_ .•

GREATEST SPEEDUP IN PLANE OUTPUT URGED Skilled Labor Is Critically Needed

In Aircraft Work Skilled labor is urgently needed

in the aircraft and engine indus­try throughout the country to continue stepping up production at the rate required by the de­fense program. In mar-y areas the shortage of skilled labor al­ready is critical.

Thirty-five thousand additional employees had been put on aircraft m anufacturing payrolls by Sep­tember bringing total employment up to 291,000. The Bureau of Em­ployment Security of the Depart­m ent of Labor estimates that this total will be increased to more than 330,000 by January. Skills most urgently in demand for these n ew jobs include the following:

Skills Needed Aeronautical engineers trained

in aerodynamics, in structures , in electromechanics; str es s and weight en gineers as well as flight tes t engineers and electronics en­gineers ; tool , die, jig and fixture m akers , machinists, including skilled machin e operators, sh eet ~etal workers, skilled assembly­m en . plaster modelers, bench welders, wood pattern makers, tool designers, engine la the opera ­t ors turret lathe operators, mill­m g m achine opera tors , sh~et metal l:! ssemblers and mecham cs , and welders.

N e w Tr~ining Progra ms

T raining programs h ave been started by several _ companies_. One

_-.0 mpany is offerm g to tram as ~eronautical en gineers any per­sons with a . degree and five years exper ien ce m the fields of elec­t r ical , mechanica~ or civil en­gineering or a rchi tectural draft­ing. Anoth_er ha~ J?Ore than 2,000 employees m trammg courses.

Hir ing of unskilled workers will not be h eavy for several months . rn some places a few women are being h ired and applications t aken fo r future consideration . A sub­<t antial port ion of the production ~f components is subcontracted

thousands of shops and sup ­t~·ers scattered throughout the P"l . h country-m some cases as muc s 63 % . .

a Major aircraft manufacturm g . as recen t ly reported feeling ~he

a~ e ch in skilled labor supply m­Pf0cte New York, Hartford , San c ~ go Los Angeles, Seattle, Fort Dlertb and Wichita. No special wo ft deferment policies have been dr: uP. although you~g engineers se. critically needed m many en­:f~eering departments.

I

Priorities on Scarce Materials are Vital to U. S. Air Transport System

Con tinued access to priorit ies on ~carce materia ls and parts is a bso­lutely essen tial to the functioning of our air transport system , now setting new, all -time records in passen ger, express and cargo ship­ments . The problem of delivering essen t ial new transport aircraft and th e parts and supplies r e­quired to maintain the existing fleet will become all the more acute as the defense program gathers momentum and thus eTeatly enhances the flow of pri-

Figures for t h e World War II period show that a t th e peak, pri­ority passen ger traffic actually av­eraged more t h an 50 o/o of the to­tal. On the vital, long transcon­tinental r uns, it was, of course, far h igh er , as many a t raveler will recall.

The airlines curren t ly ar~ carry­ing a record volume of passen gers and the trend h as been sharply upward through out the year. For the firs t t ime in history U. S. do­mestic an d internation al a irlines

1 C>rity traffic . -See MATERIALS page 3-

President's Goal Far Greater Than

In World War II By DeWitt C. R~msey (Admiral, U.S.N.,

Ret.), President, Aircraft Industries Associa tion

The production goal projected for the aircraft industry in 1951 bY President Truman will require a far more rapid expansion in out­put than was attained in World War II.

Such an increase manifestly is not within the capabilities of the aircraf t industry alone. It can only be a ttained by maximum pos­sible cooperation and support on the part of the supplying indus­tries and every government de­partment and agency in any way concerned.

The President's goal is the greatest ch allen ge ever faced by the aircraft industry. It is for­tunate that the man agement and engineering teams that coped with th e expansion problems of World War II remain largely intact.

The President told the nation on December 15 that, "Within one year we will be turning out planes at 5 times th e present r ate of pro­duction ." Our prsent ra te of mili­tary aircraft production is slight­

·~ I y under 4 million pounds a.ir-frame weight a month. In umts, the current total is probably some­wh ere a round 250 per month .

World War II Record

During World War II, th e in­dustry was not a ble to expand much more than three t imes with­in a 12-mon th period as compared to the 5-fold increase called for bY President Truman . Production in May, 1940, at t he time Presi­dent Roosevelt announced his 50,-000 plan e goal was at t he monthly rate of 1,900,000 pounds. A year later in May, 1941 , th e production rate h ad r isen to 6,229,000 pounds. By May, 1942, production h ad risen to 23 ,202,000 a mon th ; and by May, 1943, the rate was 60,500 ,-000 pounds mon thly.

The fi gures for production in uni ts sh ow a simila r trend. In May , 1940, production was 450 plan es. A year later , the monthly output was 1,380 ; and in May, 1942, the r ate was 3,983 . The peak was in March 1944 with an out ­put of 9,113 planes.

Throughout World War II, therefore, th e industry was able to triple its output in a 12-months period . If it is n ow to meet t h e goal of a 5-fold increase set by th e President, the necessary pro­duction contracts should be placed

- See SPEEDUP Page 4-

·, . PLANES Planes is published by the Aircraft Industries Association of

America, Inc., the national trade association of the manufacturers of military, transport,' and personal aircraft, helicopters, flying missiles and their accessories, instruments and components .

. The purpose of Planes is. to: · ,-~. - Foster a better public understanding of Air Power and the

requirements essential to preservation of American leader­ship in the air; Illustrate and explain the special problems of the aircraft industry and its vital role in our national securitl .

Publication Office: "0 Shoreham Building, Washington 5, D. C.

New York Office: 350 Fifth Avenue, New York I, New York.

Los Angeles Office: 7660 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles 36, California.

ALL MATERIAL MAY BE REPRODUCED-MATS OF ALL CHARTS ARE AVAILABLE

Historic Production Goals • ' - 1 .

The aircraft industry has frequently been handed production as· signments that seemed diffic ult or impossible to achieve. (See state­ment by President Ramsey on p. l. )

On May 16, 1940, in his famous message calling for the expansion for America 's defenses President Roosevelt gave the aircraft production program for World War II its first great stimulus. He told the public that during the past year American productive capacity fo r war planes had risen from about 6,000 planes per year to more than double that number. President Roosevelt said "our immedia te problem is to super­impose on this production capacity a greatly increased add itional pro­duction capacity. I should like to see this nation geared up to the ability to turn out at least 50,000 planes a year. Furthermore, I believe that this nation should plan at this time a program that wo uld provide us with 50,000 military and Naval planes."

In 1939 and 1940 America's plane builders were_ in the process_ of expanding their facilities to deliver the aircraft reqm red ~o fil~ forei? n orders. They had in great par t recovered from the fin ancial difficulties of the midd le thirties which had forced many producers to the verge of bankruptcy. Materials and tools had been ordered ; a subst~~ti al pro­gram of plant expansion was under way; thousands of a~ditwnal ~m­ployees had been hired and additional employees were bemg recrmted daily. The tremendous expansion in plant, facilities and manpower that con tributed to deliveri es of thousands of planes per month began from that base laid by foreign orders.

Despite the expansion brought about by th_e earlier foreign orders and the sti mulus of the 50,000 plane productiOn. program an annual production rate of 50,000 was not reached. until August 1942- 27 mon ths later when deliveries totalled 4,274 au craft.

125,000 Plane Coal

In the meantime the goals of America's ai~craft production program had again been tremendously increased. In h1s messa~e to CJng~ess 0~ Janua ry 6, 1942, President Roosevelt called for t e pro uctwn o 125,000 lanes durin 1943 of which 100,000 were scheduled _t? be

b p A lg · · 1943 reached 85 898 m1htary com at types. ctua productiOn dunng h d ' · k · planes of all types. The production expansion reac e Its pea m early 1944. when the mon thly producti on rate eOxcee~ed 20~0 ~lan~s equivalen t to an annual ra te of almost llO,O? umts. f ut hac sd Y

·1· 1 b . ductwn rates a ter r at ate. m1 1tary p anners egan to reduce plane pro

In 1939 producers of ai rcraft aircraft engines and p~rts emp~fYe1 48,638 people. At its war time p~ak 2,102,000 were on t e payro s o American plane builders and subcontractors.

The ai-rcraft industry had become the largest single industry in the world.

· · d d thousands of employees The orgamzatiOn of these thousan s an · f f T · d

in to prod uction teams and the tremendous expansJn .0 t~CI rtJes an fl oor space a·~compli shed by the aircraft indust1r~ unng e wa: wa~ the result of outstanding cooperation between a 0J' ~anagfT~n an aovernmental agencies responsible for a i rcraftdpr~ uct 10~- . l

11.~ coop­~ra ti on enabled the aircraft manufacturing in us ry 0 np e 1 s pro-

d ucl ion rate every year. . . As Admiral Ramsey poin ts out, the rate of mcrease pro} ecte~ by .d· . T ruman calls for a more rapid ri se than that followmg either

Presi en t , h" . d · P

·a 11 t Roosevelt s 1stonc pro uctwn announcements. of res i e

·- ------ ------

PLANE VIEWS

The U.S. Deficit for handling air ma1 during the past ll years is less than the d .. from penny post cords in any ONE YEAe;_c;t

•

BY AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

Seventy per cent score on this quiz is excellent. Sixty per ce nt is good . Answers on Page four.

I. A mod e rn U. S. military cargo plan e c a n drop a 25,500 pound load of military equipment by parachute in 12 se conds . True? False ?

2. 'r he Air Force is now orga nizing a fle e t of (a) 50, {b) 110, ( c ) I 8 0

tanker plan e s for mid-air refueling of bombers.

3. What is the record flying tim e betwee n Moscow and Washington 7

4. In airline equipment maintenance , cost of e ngine mainte nance alone re prese nts (a) 24 % , (b) 44 % , {c) 64 % 7

5. Th e fi rst turboje t airpl a ne was suc ­c e ssfully flo wn in (a) 1939, (b) 1942, (c ) 1944 7 By : (a) G erma ny, (b) Br it a in , {c) the U. S. 7

:Jacfj anJ :Jigurej A complete tabulation of state

laws affecting civil av i a tion throughout the U. S . is available on request from the Civil Areo­nautics Administra t ion, Washing­ton .

6. One U. S. cargo plan e c a n ca rry up to 100,000 pounds of payload. Tru e 7 False 7

7. The U. S. is schedule d to adopt knots and nautical miles as th e measurement for air speeds and distance s. True 7 False 7

B. Research wind tunn e ls can now study air flow probl e ms at more than 7,500 miles per hour. Tru e 7 False 7

9. Caterpillar type landing gear now make it pos­sible for air­pI a n e s to land on soft or on rough t e r r a i n. T rru e 7 False 7

I 0. The heavi est airplan e to land succ essfully on an a ircraft car r ie rs we igh s (a) ove r nin e tons, (b) ove r 12 tons, (c) over 17 ton s ?

P reliminary search for oil by helicopter is under way in Can­ada 's vast and partly-explored Northwest Territory , 500 miles­above Edmonton .

Extensive research is now being done on precision -casting of large airframe parts.

•

••

Helicopters Reach New Utility Peak; Military Services Ordering Over 500

The helicopter has become a full-fledged and successful compo­nent of U. S. aviation and air power, evidenced most strongly by the fact that more than 500 have heen ordered by the military serv­ices in recent weeks. In an in­dustry where orders formerly were placed in increments of two or three , or perhaps half a dozen , this is a major development.

This new military emphasis marks the emergence of the heli­copter not only as a tactical tool but also as a transportation vehicle 0f extraordinary importance and characteristics. Preponderance of the new production will b0 of 10-to-20 place transport-size ma­chines.

The Navy is vigorously pushing development of the helicopter for :::.r,ti-submarine work and the Ar­my's Transportation Corps plans helicopter transport companies for a ll Army divisions.

Two recent important develop­ments contribute to both the com­mercial and military serviceability of h elicopters by providing me­chanical assurance of stable flight with maximum passenger comfort. A company which has beer. flying air mail from Los Angeles to • all of its suburbs for the past three years h as -perfected the use of in­struments in helicopter flight com­parable to the all-weather aids used in modern fixed-wing trans­ports. Exhaustive Navy tests have t>s tablished the ability of h elicop­ters to fly satisfactorily by means of automatic pilots.

Performance in Korea

Stellar performance of a small number of helicopters in the Ko­rean war gave th e greatest im­petus yet to rotary-wing aircraft production. The machine's already well proved role in rescue work took on greater importance. Of 498 lives saved in combat areas through the month of October by the Third Air Rescue Squadron, :;65 of them were by h elicopter. Battle casualties were piclced up behind the lines, crashed flyers were rescued as deep as 125 miles in enemy territory in rough ter­rain where they could not have been reached by any other means. In several instances blood trans­fusions were performed in the helicopters as patients were being flown to field hospitals. Sea rescue work was equally effective and helicopter patrols were succe~sful in destroying many floatmg mmes.

The 'copter a lso proved to be an invalua ble tactical tool, directing artillery fire and fighter planes, providing reconnaissance, and dropping men and weapons in

strategic spots. It also disproved ::1. long-held belief that it was too vulnerable to enemy .fire; one rna­rhine evacuating wounded landed s~fely with 50 bullet holes in it.

The Marine Corps, which. has been outstanding in developing the varied uses of the helicopter since World War II, has adopted it for assault landings to move in troops, weapons and supplies. One major advantage is lessening of the regrouping probiems encoun­tered in the use of gliders and paratroops. Maj . Gen. Merwin Sil­verthorn , Acting Commandant of the Marine Corps, told the House Armed Services Committee on Oct. 6 that the one really new lesson learned in Korea was "the prac­ticability of the use of the heli­copter."

More Transport' l:Jses

The rise of the helicopter as a transport vehicle h as been more rapid than is gen erally realized. Not more than 400 machines were tuilt during the World War ll years and few civilian models were available before 1946. Only about 1,100 helicopters h ad been built ir the U. S. prior to the Korean war.

Their commercial uses h ave ex­panded rapidly and now include such work as power line and pipe line patrol, geophysical survey, mapping, and agricultura l and city spraying. Police and traffic departmen ts are adding more and more . Use of air mail in Chicago and 55 surrounding communities was doubled during the first 12 months helicopter mail service was provided there. First use of h eli­copters for sch eduled passenger transport has been recommended by a CAB examiner for part of the New York City area; Los Angeles expects to have it by next spring, and Detroi t is actively petioninig for it.

President's Air Travel Ahead of Surface Trips

When President Truman returned to Washington from his spectacular fli ght to Wake Island for his con­ference with General MacArthur, he had rounded out a little more than 100,000 miles of air travel since taking office on April 12, 1945.

During the same period, White House sources said , the president had traveled by all othn forms of transpo •r tation --ship, ra tlway and automobile -- onl y slightly over 70,000 miles.

Jet Engine Progress One U. S. aircraft en gine manufacturer, pushing new develop­

ments in jet and turbo-prop engines to meet constantly increasing technologica.l requiremets, reports major improvements during the past three years which it says mean "profits for the customer"­the government's 1nilitary procurement depa rtments.

The company lists the following progress data on one t urbo-jet engine for t he period 1947- 1950:

Unit price .. . ...... . ... . . . . . . . .. ......... 29 % decrease. Pounds of thrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 % increase. Price per pound of thrust ........ . . .. . . .. 41 o/o decrease. Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7% decrease. Pounds of thrust per pound of weight . . . . . 40 o/o increase. Fuel consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3% decrease. Authorized time between overhauls .. . . . ... 445 % increase.

----------------------------------------

MATERIALS <Continued from page 1)

have gone above the mark of a billion passenger miles in two dif­ferent months ; · June and August - and nearly to that mark in Oc­tober . .

Full Story Untold

In an all-out war economy, swift transportation is an absolute essential. The full story of the airlines' contribution to the de­fense program in World War ll has never been told statistically. Research shows that the airlines, stripped of half of their planes for purely military purposes, often found priority passengers and car­go being "bumped" for higher priority passengers and cargo, so great was the need for quick move­ment of men and materials.

The priority movement of air e:xpress and mail expanded in sim­ijar proportions from the outset of the war . In one two-week pe­riod as high as 15.4 % of the a ir mail was displaced because of more urgent loads. In one period 41.6 % of all air express was high priority .

The percentage of priority pas­sengers for a typical two-week period in April , 1943, was 41.6 %. A few months later in August, 1943, the percentage of priority passengers had risen to 52.1 %, and in April, 1944, the percentage of priority passengers exceeded 56 % of the total passengers. These figures were in an era before air travel h ad reached its present state of acceptance.

Aircraft manufacturers have on hand orders for more than 200 commercial transport planes, by far t he largest backlog in more than two years. Airline operators say these new planes will be des­perately needed during 1951 and 1952 either as replacements or for additional capacity.

The appeal of the Aircraft In­dustries Association and the Air Transport Association to the Na­tional Production Authority to es­tablish Defense Order <DOl rat­ings for the manufacture of trans­port-type aircraft asked for treat­ment similar to that accorded the railroads.

How Training of Workers "' Speeds Plane Production

How volume of orders, training of workers, and production line techniques speed the output of aircraft is demonstrated by World War II records. One aircraft com­pany with a peak of 29,400 people during the war produced 46 air­planes per month , then ended the war with 16,700 people producing 100 airplan es per month.

Ai•· Quot@s "The Air Force and the Navy

are doing an outstanding job. The close-up air support for the ground troops has been re-

ported to me in the most glow­ing terms. It has ex­ceeded our most effec­tive work at the end of World War!!. The N avy has done a mag­nificent job

Gen . Bradley in support-ing us with their carrier forces, in combining with us on the ground with the Marines, and in the gunfire support they h ave given from their off-shore ships."-Gen. Omar Bradley, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a radio interview Oct. 12 , 1950.

"The heavy reliance which the country, and indeed all of the free world, places on our Air Force in being is such that we must spare no effort to see to it that this force is right. We will therefore move on ur­gently to strengthen our air arm. We will seek to build those installations, acquire the equipment and make the planes and missiles which will make our Air Force capable, within the limits of present applied science, of carrying out its task. I am sure that the American people expect nothing less."­Thomas K . Finletter. Secretary of t h e Air Force.

~. -· _,.

T earns of 150 Colleges Used Chartered Planes

Additional scores of football ~quads traveling by air during the 1950 season added a spectacularly growing volume to the acceptance of air travel because of its many advantages over slower and more circuitous surface transport.

A rough survey showed that at least 150 colleges and universities during the past season chartered modern multi-engined planes to carry their football players and other necessary personnel to eames where more than 200 miles cf travel was involved. The num­ber of planes chartered by parties of football fans also ran high. One airline alone carried the teams of 85 different colleges .

Famed Coach Frank Leahy of Notre Dame outlined some of the strongest reason for air travel by athletes when he wrote a spe­cial article for the McNaught Syn­dicate telling why his Irish had broken precedent to adopt-as many other teams already had­air charter travel to distant games. Some excerpts from his state­ment :

"First of all , looking at air trrovel from the point of view of the University, flying causes the players to miss less time in the classroom. Last fall when we made trips to both coasts, one to Texas, and two in the Midwest, our play­ers found it difficult to keep a breast of their academic work. This fall (by air) only one trip will cause us to leave before Fri­day afternoon, so the boys will miss very few classes . .. .

"Flying is good for the indi­vidual players because quick trips do not allow them t ime to worry &.bout the game. · · · .

"Most important Is the fact it a llows us to practice on our own field the daY before the game . . .. .

"It is my belief that ftymg 1s d f the school and for the

~oo or , football team.

SPEEDUP <Continued from page 1)

immediately. Adequate priorities for machine tools, production tool­ing and all other equipment used to expand output must be pro­vided. The supply of critical ma­terials available for aircraft pro­duction must, of course, be in­creased proportionately to the larger output goal.

Aircraft today are roughly twice as large and are far more compli­cated than the aircraft produced in World War IT. As a result, it takes approximately four times as many man hours to buildt a cur­rent model as compared to the planes of 10 years ago.

Training programs to augment appreciably the force of skilled labor in aircraft plants must therefore be started promptly and

Jet Stability Advantages of the use of

jet fighters in the Korean war were described recently by Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, USAF, in hearings before the Military Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

'The jet airplane, while it costs more money for fuel, is the most stable bombing platform in the fighter class that we have," Gen. Vanden­berg said. "It is more sta­ble than the conventional type of plane. In addition to that, while the jet fighter can spend less time over the target, it can get around much faster and cover much ground . ...

"The boys who were flying the jets said they could slow them down and do a more accurate bombing job than with a conventional fi ghter, that they could see better , and that they could cover more area."

lnsignific~nt Quantity of Scarce Materials Needed For Lightplanes

Steel . ....... . Aluminum .. . . Copper .. ... . . Rubber . . .... .

Total National Production

<Tons) 77,978,176

603 ,462 1,072,000 1,211,582

Although only an insignificant portion of the n ation's output of basic materials is needed, manu­facture of all personal airplanes used by the highly essential non­airline segment of the aviation in­dustry will be stopped unless high priorities on a continuing basis are provided for these materials.

Chaotic conditions would result throughout t h e non-scheduled civil aviation activity of the en­tire country since manufacture of spare parts would be very diffi­cult, due to the starvation volume mvolved. Grounding of increasing numbers of existing aircraft would be inevitable. Thus, the civil avia­tion industry, recognized in offi­cial Government reports as essen­tial to the national security, would be crippled.

The small amounts of short­supply material needed to keep this entire essential industry in production are shown in a survey just completed by the Personal Aircraft Council of the Aircraft Industries Association. During

accorded needed government sup­port. The work week will have to be lengthened, with the govern­ment authorizing overtime pay­ments called for in federal law.

1950 AIRCRAFT YEARBOOK The 1950 edition of the Aircraft

Yearbook, official publication of the Aircraft Industries Associa­tion, will be published on January 15, 1951. The yearbook will pre­sent an authoritative up-to-date recapitulation of all aspects of American aviation during the year.

Answers te l'lancs Quiz I. True. A fully automatic parachute

system can drop such a load in 12 seconds in an area 150 feet wide by 2400 feet long.

2. (c) Each of nine medium bomber groups will have 20 tanker planes.

3. Immediately after the German sur­render, a U. S. transport plane flew from Moscow tc W~shington in 35 hours and 35 minutes. This is still the record.

4 . (b) 44 % was the average last year on U. S. trunk lin es.

5. (a) The first turbojet airplane was flown in Germany on Aug. 27, 1939. First U. S. jet plane was flown in the fall of 1942.

6. True. This plan e has b een under­going high load lifting tests at Kelly AFB, San Antonio.

7. True , effective July I, 1952 . A nautical mile is 6,080 fe e t or one min ut e of arc on a great circle. Knots are the numb er of nautical miles traveled in an hour.

8. True. A new wind tunn el at Cali­for nia In stitute of Tec hnology has bee n operated at I 0 tim es the speed of sound (7b0 mph at sea leve l) .

9. Tru e. Caterpillar type la nding g ear have bee n used successfully on large type plan es but are sti ll the subj ect of inte nsive resea rch.

10. ( cJ Latest Navy plan e adapted to carr ier operation , powered by two pist on en gin es a nd one jet e ngin e, weighs over 17 tons em pty.

Used by Non­Transport Aircraft Ir.dustry <Tons)

1,337 1,666

137 91

% of Total Used by This

Industry .00172 .275 .0128 .0075

1949, six lightplane and three en­gine manufacturers who produced more than 95 % of all such planes turned out in the U.S . used only an infinitesimal percentage of 1: c~rce basic materials produced in this country.

Other basic materials used in productio::l of these civil planes showed even smaller percentages of the national total. Altogether 3,35.8 personal planes were built ~urmg the year. While this in-dustry manufactures largely on a current sales basis and large back­logs are seldom on its books, the PAC survey showed that most ~?~~-a,z;ies ~ee a firm demand for '"" '"":;L 25 -;o more pl.:.;,;~:; in 1951 ~han they delivered in 1950 This IS due almost entirely to in.creas-mg executive, industrial and agri­cultural use of the airplane.

Danger Recognized

However, the impending danger Gf ll. fo:ced shutdown of the light­plane mdustry was recognized as far back as last August in a re­I:ort. to .the CAA Administrator b:r: his AVIation Development Com-mittee. ·

The int~r:-relation of the mili­tary and CIVIl functions of the per-sonal plan~ industry is as evident a ~ow as dunng World War II when W' 1 · produc':d. thousands of training planes, liaison, small transport ~.nd reconnaissance craft in addi-Ion to a heavy output of com­

ponel_lts for .lar~e.r military planes. i This. qua~I-mihtary relationshiP s agam bemg proved and are at ~vork on sub-contracts for mili­ary plane. makers. The danger

they face Is that their lightplane manufacturing Potential will be destroyed and as a light aircraft mdustry they face extinction for want of a comparative trickle of basic materials.

Jet Armament The tremendous power

which can be packed by a jet fighter in ground support or tactical air warfare is de­scribed in a recent state­ment by Col. William M. Gross, Deputy for Require­ments, Tactical Air Com-mand: •

"Standard jet fighters u1sed tby the Air Force for ,

c ose actical air support are now able to deliver as much as one thousand pounds of bombs plus eight 5-inch HVAR rockets, plus six .50 a caliber machine guns at W' ranges acceptable in tac ti-cal warfare. If only rocl,<:ets are desired, as many as 32 5-inch HVARSs may be loaded on a single aircraft.

"Let me point out that in a salvo in this last configu­ration , one aircr aft exceeds the potential destructive power of one salvo from eight four-gun batteries of 105 mm guns."